Ancient Roman Education
By Justin S.
Education was important to ancient Roman culture. Did you know that the Romans had levels of education?
In Rome, schools were scarce. The schools were always built in cities. They could be indoors or outdoors. Most of the schools had 1 room and 1 class. There were about 30 students in a classroom. Only rich boys went to school. All of this was called the primary school. Few, very smart boys continued to grammar school. Very few were chosen to go to rhetoric school. Rhetoric school was like a college. Rhetoric in Latin means, “The art of public speaking.” The few students who went to rhetoric school usually got jobs in court, or were involved in politics. The centers of higher education were based on individual professors, who focused more on language arts. No matter how high the school level, the teacher always had a blackboard to help him teach. The teacher was usually a well educated, captured man from Greece. Many teachers were not well respected. All the students were taught by 1 teacher.
Ever since Rome was founded, Roman leaders emphasized education. There was limited access to education. The school system was not public .Only wealthy families who could pay sent their children to school to become well educated. Small children were taught at home by a tutor, who was an educated slave known as a pedagogue. Some sources say that girls were taught how to read and write, but never went to a school. Rich boys starting at 7 or 8 years of age went to primary or elementary school. They mainly learned general subjects like math, spelling and language. A school day would have gone like this; first a student would wake up and brush his teeth. Next, he would have breakfast and walk to school accompanied by the household slave. The slave’s job was to beat the boy if he missed behaved. The slave would also carry the students tablet and stylus on the walk to school. The students would have a mid- day break to go home and eat lunch. At the end of the day, the boy and his slave would go to the baths. The students would stay at elementary school until they were 12. Of the few students who went to grammar school, they learned to memorize long poems and speeches. They also learned how to shoot, hunt, and fight. The Romans believed that public speaking was the most important subject because it was how they got good jobs. It was even more important than private reading. In rhetoric school, the students learned to improve their public speaking. Greek culture had an important impact on Rome’s education.
Writing was difficult for Roman students because paper was not easily available. The Romans wrote in Latin. They wrote with a stylus that is a stick with 1 sharp end for writing, and a blunt end for erasing. The students wrote on a wax covered, wooden tablet. The students could warm the tablets up, and then erase the writing with the stylus’s blunt end. Pens, made from reed or brass, were only used by very wealthy, rhetoric school students. Students who had a pen, wrote on papyrus or parchment. Papyrus was first used by the Egyptians. It was made from the papyrus plant’s stem. Parchment was much more expensive. It was made from sheepskin, or other kinds of animal skins. It was mainly used for messages from Rome’s emperors to other emperors. Roman students did not have their own text books. They shared scrolls, which were one long piece of papyrus, rolled around two sticks. The Roman writing had no punctuation, so it was hard for archeologists to read.
The Romans also spoke in Latin. The only foreign language students learned was Greek. It was taught in the student’s lessons. They used the Latin alphabet which is very similar to ours. In the Roman’s alphabet, the letters K, Y and Z were not used very often. The letter J was the same as I and U was the same as V.
The famous “Roman numerals” were a big part of Roman life. They used 7 letters to represent all of the “Roman numerals”. I = 1, V = 5, X = 10, L = 50, C = 100, D = 500 and M = 1,000. In Roman schools, math was taught with the help of an abacus. An abacus was a counting board. It was also used to help in trade and commerce.
Education has changed so much over the years, but there still is an impact from Roman teachings today in our schools. We use the Roman’s idea of using different levels of education and are all familiar with Roman Numerals and the Roman alphabet.
Works Cited Goodenough, Simon. Citizens ofRome. Waldwick Court, London: 1979, Berkley Publishers INC.
“History of Education.” Grolier Online. 2008.
Purves, Amanda. Growing up in AncientRome. East Sussex, England: 1978 Wayland Publishers..
The Romans. <www.bbc.co.uk.com> 1/24/09
“Rome, Ancient”. World Book Student. 2008
“The Roman Education” <www.librarys.thinkquest.org > 1/24/09
“Roman Schools”. NettlesworthPrimary School. <www.atschool.eduweb.com> 1/24/09
Ancient Roman Children and Education
By Elizabeth S. The Roman children were important in the Roman Empire because they were the future. It was important for them to get a good education in order to perform the jobs the wealthy citizens held. Your job reflected on your rank in the Roman world. The Roman government encouraged families to have a lot of children so they could serve in the army and government. Nine days after a baby’s birth, there was a ceremony to formally name the child, and to protect it from evil gods and goddesses. A purple-bordered toga, called a toga praetexta, and a gold good luck charm, called a bulla, was also given to the child.The father was called a paterfamilias and had absolute power over all of his children until he died. All Roman babies were born at home. The paterfamilias preferred sons to daughters because boys went to school and prepared for occupations.
Wealthy people in the Roman Empire were called patricians. The patrician children usually had their own slave, called a paedogogus. The paedogogus did chores like baby sitting, playing with the child, teaching him table manners, and rocking his or her cradle. The first six years of a child’s life were spent at home. The paedogogus taught the basics of education, such as reading, the alphabet and maybe some simple math. A paedogogus was very important in a child’s life and as the child grew older, the paedogogus became a protector who escorted him everywhere. He shielded the child from immoral influences along the way. The patrician child usually had a lot of affection towards the paedogogus. Often, as an expression of gratitude, upon growing up, the child freed their paedogogus.
Common people of Rome were called plebeians. There were more plebeians than patricians. Their children learned practical skills from their fathers like how to ride horses, or how to farm.
When a Roman child, plebeian or patrician, was seven they went to school, which was called a ludus. Many wealthier patrician boys learned from slaves, tutors, their fathers, or they could go to the palace school. The palace school was a school the ruler or emperor made for his children and the favored senators’ children with the finest teachers. Their elementary school teacher was called a litterator or magister ludi and they went to school to study reading, mathematics and writing.
All Roman schools were private schools and were in a small room next to a house or shop.There were usually about twelve children in each private school. In a lot of towns, there was no school so many boys had to travel if they wanted a good education. Most of the private schools had only one room and one class. Most Roman boys going to school woke up before sunrise. If the schoolboy was wealthy enough, he would have a slave or someone called a school attendant bring all his school supplies, such as the writing materials and exercise books. When the boy would get to school, he would greet his teacher, and the slave, or school attendant would give him his supplies. Some boys weren’t wealthy enough to have a school attendant or slave. A Roman school stopped at noon so the children could go back home to eat lunch and come back after lunch was over.
Their writing materials were clay or bronze inkwells, and a curved pen called a stylus. Some styli were made out of bone and wood and others had a spoon at the end for stirring the ink. Books in the Roman world were scrolls, which were a long piece of paper rolled around a stick. Since reed and animal skinned paper was too expensive for the children to write on, they wrote on wax tablets that were reusable. When boys were ten or eleven they went to a gramaticus school, which was middle school. At the gramaticus school boys studied Latin, Greek, literature, language, some history, music, astronomy, geometry, and geography. The gramaticus school ended when they were thirteen or fourteen.
Most patrician boys and all patrician girls didn’t go to the “high school,” but some wealthier patrician boys went to study law, history, how to debate, and public speaking. High school students were taught by a rhetor, which was important if patrician boys wanted to become a lawyer or a politician. Not many boys studied public speaking, which was called oratory in Roman times. Many boys spent their teen years finishing their education and honing their public speaking skills. A lot of boys studied philosophy, which was the thought of how things happen and why. The Romans thought it was improper to be too interested in philosophy. Many patrician Roman boys finished their education with a tour of Greece to study with some of the best orators of their time.
Roman parents arranged marriages for their children. They wanted them to marry someone who had similar political or economic beliefs. The paterfamilias decided who his son or daughter could marry and usually the girls married someone eight or more years older than them going through their second, third, or fourth marriage. A Roman girl had to gladly accept who the man her father chose for her to marry. Girls could legally marry at twelve and many did, while boys could legally marry at fourteen. Many girls married at age twelve so they didn’t have a good education because it ended so suddenly. Household skills were more important than a girl’s education; so many girls didn’t even go to school. Patrician girls learned how to supervise all of their slaves and any girl was expected to know how to spin and weave. If you weren’t married by ages fifteen through sixteen, you were probably punished.
When a boy was fifteen through eighteen they had reached manhood in the Roman world and that was marked with a huge ceremony. A wealthy patrician Roman boy would go to his household shrine and leave his bulla and purple-bordered toga as a thank offering to the gods for bringing him safely to manhood. Then he put on the toga of manhood, which is a plain toga. After that he went into the town square, which was called a Forum, to be formally named a citizen so he could vote. Then the boy went to his city’s most important temple, which in Rome was the Pantheon. The rest of the day was spent feasting and celebrating. When a boy “came of age” he could begin his career in the military and government. The Roman children mattered a lot to the Romans and in their education they tried to improve it year by year. A lot of the Roman Empire’s population was made up of children because adults died young. A Roman’s early life was truly important because for many people it was most of their life. Works Cited Gedchat, Daniel C. Home Life in Ancient Rome. New York: Rosen Publishing Inc. 2004. Hinds, Kathryn. Marshall Cavendish 2005 Life in the Roman Empire: The Patricians. Terrytown, New York Hodge, Peter. Burnt Mill, 19 Aspects of Roman Life Roman Family Life. Essex, England: Longman House. Nettlesworth Primary School. Life in Roman Times. 15 November 2008.www.atschool.eduweb.- -co.uk/nettsh/time/rlife.html Nice, Alex T. “Ancient Rome”. World Book Student. 2008.
By Justin S.
Education was important to ancient Roman culture. Did you know that the Romans had levels of education?
In Rome, schools were scarce. The schools were always built in cities. They could be indoors or outdoors. Most of the schools had 1 room and 1 class. There were about 30 students in a classroom. Only rich boys went to school. All of this was called the primary school. Few, very smart boys continued to grammar school. Very few were chosen to go to rhetoric school. Rhetoric school was like a college. Rhetoric in Latin means, “The art of public speaking.” The few students who went to rhetoric school usually got jobs in court, or were involved in politics. The centers of higher education were based on individual professors, who focused more on language arts. No matter how high the school level, the teacher always had a blackboard to help him teach. The teacher was usually a well educated, captured man from Greece. Many teachers were not well respected. All the students were taught by 1 teacher.
Ever since Rome was founded, Roman leaders emphasized education. There was limited access to education. The school system was not public .Only wealthy families who could pay sent their children to school to become well educated. Small children were taught at home by a tutor, who was an educated slave known as a pedagogue. Some sources say that girls were taught how to read and write, but never went to a school. Rich boys starting at 7 or 8 years of age went to primary or elementary school. They mainly learned general subjects like math, spelling and language. A school day would have gone like this; first a student would wake up and brush his teeth. Next, he would have breakfast and walk to school accompanied by the household slave. The slave’s job was to beat the boy if he missed behaved. The slave would also carry the students tablet and stylus on the walk to school. The students would have a mid- day break to go home and eat lunch. At the end of the day, the boy and his slave would go to the baths. The students would stay at elementary school until they were 12. Of the few students who went to grammar school, they learned to memorize long poems and speeches. They also learned how to shoot, hunt, and fight. The Romans believed that public speaking was the most important subject because it was how they got good jobs. It was even more important than private reading. In rhetoric school, the students learned to improve their public speaking. Greek culture had an important impact on Rome’s education.
Writing was difficult for Roman students because paper was not easily available. The Romans wrote in Latin. They wrote with a stylus that is a stick with 1 sharp end for writing, and a blunt end for erasing. The students wrote on a wax covered, wooden tablet. The students could warm the tablets up, and then erase the writing with the stylus’s blunt end. Pens, made from reed or brass, were only used by very wealthy, rhetoric school students. Students who had a pen, wrote on papyrus or parchment. Papyrus was first used by the Egyptians. It was made from the papyrus plant’s stem. Parchment was much more expensive. It was made from sheepskin, or other kinds of animal skins. It was mainly used for messages from Rome’s emperors to other emperors. Roman students did not have their own text books. They shared scrolls, which were one long piece of papyrus, rolled around two sticks. The Roman writing had no punctuation, so it was hard for archeologists to read.
The Romans also spoke in Latin. The only foreign language students learned was Greek. It was taught in the student’s lessons. They used the Latin alphabet which is very similar to ours. In the Roman’s alphabet, the letters K, Y and Z were not used very often. The letter J was the same as I and U was the same as V.
The famous “Roman numerals” were a big part of Roman life. They used 7 letters to represent all of the “Roman numerals”. I = 1, V = 5, X = 10, L = 50, C = 100, D = 500 and M = 1,000. In Roman schools, math was taught with the help of an abacus. An abacus was a counting board. It was also used to help in trade and commerce.
Education has changed so much over the years, but there still is an impact from Roman teachings today in our schools. We use the Roman’s idea of using different levels of education and are all familiar with Roman Numerals and the Roman alphabet.
Works Cited
Goodenough, Simon. Citizens of Rome. Waldwick Court, London: 1979, Berkley Publishers INC.
“History of Education.” Grolier Online. 2008.
Purves, Amanda. Growing up in Ancient Rome. East Sussex, England: 1978 Wayland Publishers..
The Romans. <www.bbc.co.uk.com> 1/24/09
“Rome, Ancient”. World Book Student. 2008
“The Roman Education” <www.librarys.thinkquest.org > 1/24/09
“Roman Schools”. Nettlesworth Primary School. <www.atschool.eduweb.com> 1/24/09
Ancient Roman Children and Education
By Elizabeth S.
The Roman children were important in the Roman Empire because they were the future. It was important for them to get a good education in order to perform the jobs the wealthy citizens held. Your job reflected on your rank in the Roman world.
The Roman government encouraged families to have a lot of children so they could serve in the army and government. Nine days after a baby’s birth, there was a ceremony to formally name the child, and to protect it from evil gods and goddesses. A purple-bordered toga, called a toga praetexta, and a gold good luck charm, called a bulla, was also given to the child. The father was called a paterfamilias and had absolute power over all of his children until he died. All Roman babies were born at home. The paterfamilias preferred sons to daughters because boys went to school and prepared for occupations.
Wealthy people in the Roman Empire were called patricians. The patrician children usually had their own slave, called a paedogogus. The paedogogus did chores like baby sitting, playing with the child, teaching him table manners, and rocking his or her cradle. The first six years of a child’s life were spent at home. The paedogogus taught the basics of education, such as reading, the alphabet and maybe some simple math. A paedogogus was very important in a child’s life and as the child grew older, the paedogogus became a protector who escorted him everywhere. He shielded the child from immoral influences along the way. The patrician child usually had a lot of affection towards the paedogogus. Often, as an expression of gratitude, upon growing up, the child freed their paedogogus.
Common people of Rome were called plebeians. There were more plebeians than patricians. Their children learned practical skills from their fathers like how to ride horses, or how to farm.
When a Roman child, plebeian or patrician, was seven they went to school, which was called a ludus. Many wealthier patrician boys learned from slaves, tutors, their fathers, or they could go to the palace school. The palace school was a school the ruler or emperor made for his children and the favored senators’ children with the finest teachers. Their elementary school teacher was called a litterator or magister ludi and they went to school to study reading, mathematics and writing.
All Roman schools were private schools and were in a small room next to a house or shop. There were usually about twelve children in each private school. In a lot of towns, there was no school so many boys had to travel if they wanted a good education. Most of the private schools had only one room and one class. Most Roman boys going to school woke up before sunrise. If the schoolboy was wealthy enough, he would have a slave or someone called a school attendant bring all his school supplies, such as the writing materials and exercise books. When the boy would get to school, he would greet his teacher, and the slave, or school attendant would give him his supplies. Some boys weren’t wealthy enough to have a school attendant or slave. A Roman school stopped at noon so the children could go back home to eat lunch and come back after lunch was over.
Their writing materials were clay or bronze inkwells, and a curved pen called a stylus. Some styli were made out of bone and wood and others had a spoon at the end for stirring the ink. Books in the Roman world were scrolls, which were a long piece of paper rolled around a stick. Since reed and animal skinned paper was too expensive for the children to write on, they wrote on wax tablets that were reusable.
When boys were ten or eleven they went to a gramaticus school, which was middle school. At the gramaticus school boys studied Latin, Greek, literature, language, some history, music, astronomy, geometry, and geography. The gramaticus school ended when they were thirteen or fourteen.
Most patrician boys and all patrician girls didn’t go to the “high school,” but some wealthier patrician boys went to study law, history, how to debate, and public speaking. High school students were taught by a rhetor, which was important if patrician boys wanted to become a lawyer or a politician. Not many boys studied public speaking, which was called oratory in Roman times. Many boys spent their teen years finishing their education and honing their public speaking skills. A lot of boys studied philosophy, which was the thought of how things happen and why. The Romans thought it was improper to be too interested in philosophy. Many patrician Roman boys finished their education with a tour of Greece to study with some of the best orators of their time.
Roman parents arranged marriages for their children. They wanted them to marry someone who had similar political or economic beliefs. The paterfamilias decided who his son or daughter could marry and usually the girls married someone eight or more years older than them going through their second, third, or fourth marriage. A Roman girl had to gladly accept who the man her father chose for her to marry. Girls could legally marry at twelve and many did, while boys could legally marry at fourteen. Many girls married at age twelve so they didn’t have a good education because it ended so suddenly. Household skills were more important than a girl’s education; so many girls didn’t even go to school. Patrician girls learned how to supervise all of their slaves and any girl was expected to know how to spin and weave. If you weren’t married by ages fifteen through sixteen, you were probably punished.
When a boy was fifteen through eighteen they had reached manhood in the Roman world and that was marked with a huge ceremony. A wealthy patrician Roman boy would go to his household shrine and leave his bulla and purple-bordered toga as a thank offering to the gods for bringing him safely to manhood. Then he put on the toga of manhood, which is a plain toga. After that he went into the town square, which was called a Forum, to be formally named a citizen so he could vote. Then the boy went to his city’s most important temple, which in Rome was the Pantheon. The rest of the day was spent feasting and celebrating. When a boy “came of age” he could begin his career in the military and government.
The Roman children mattered a lot to the Romans and in their education they tried to improve it year by year. A lot of the Roman Empire’s population was made up of children because adults died young. A Roman’s early life was truly important because for many people it was most of their life.
Works Cited
Gedchat, Daniel C. Home Life in Ancient Rome. New York: Rosen Publishing Inc. 2004.
Hinds, Kathryn. Marshall Cavendish 2005 Life in the Roman Empire: The Patricians. Terrytown,
New York
Hodge, Peter. Burnt Mill, 19 Aspects of Roman Life Roman Family Life. Essex, England:
Longman House.
Nettlesworth Primary School. Life in Roman Times. 15 November 2008.www.atschool.eduweb.-
-co.uk/nettsh/time/rlife.html
Nice, Alex T. “Ancient Rome”. World Book Student. 2008.